


What We Pretend to Be

by ariadne_bee



Category: Loki: Agent of Asgard
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Halloween, Terrible costume ideas, Trick or Treating, Verity thinks they're all terrible to be honest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-02
Updated: 2015-11-02
Packaged: 2018-04-29 12:33:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5127758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ariadne_bee/pseuds/ariadne_bee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Is it Halloween?” Loki’s only response was a mischievous grin. “Loki! What are we doing here? You know everything about this holiday makes me crazy. It’s all <i>fake.”</i></p><p>“Stories, remember?” Loki said. “Let's cause a little mischief."</p>
            </blockquote>





	What We Pretend to Be

“Loki.” Verity’s voice was long-suffering. “Where are we?” 

It wasn’t the first place they’d gone, after Loki had drawn his magical door on the wall of nowhere, but she still wasn’t sure how it all worked. Of course, his explanation had been a mix of complicated magical descriptions, pop culture references that went over her head, and physics that she was pretty sure he had gotten completely wrong; so she was just trying to figure it out as they went. And where they went was usually somewhere interesting – Loki seemed quite taken with his new role as the God of Stories, and apparently there were a lot of people whose stories were compelling enough to attract his attention.

But this time, she looked suspiciously around the perfectly average-looking suburban neighborhood, taking in the pumpkins and fluttering ghosts that were still clearly visible in the deepening twilight. “Is it Halloween?” Loki’s only response was a mischievous grin. “Loki! What are we doing here? You know everything about this holiday makes me crazy. It’s all _fake._ ”

“Stories, remember?” Loki said. “Let's cause a little mischief. Give people some _real_ Halloween scares.”

“And what is that supposed to mean?”

Loki snapped his fingers, and Verity found herself wearing a low-cut red-and-black velvet gown. “What–“ She stopped talking abruptly, disturbingly aware of having suddenly pointy teeth. “Loki!”

Again, he answered her with a grin, but this time she could see sharp fangs in his smile. He was dressed all in black, wearing a shiny black shirt under black velvet gothic jacket, and his eyes looked different, with wide black pupils and a reddish cast.

“Are we vampiresh?” She glared at him, doubly irritated that she was lisping as she tried not to catch her tongue on her teeth. “Thish ish dumb.”

“But we’re _real_ vampires!” Loki protested. Verity scowled at his ability to talk around his fangs. “I thought you would like this kind of dressing up, since we’re not pretending.” He ran his tongue over his teeth experimentally. “I wonder if we got any other vampiric abilities? Like turning into bats or hypnotizing young maidens?” He winked at Verity.

She rolled her eyes. “I don’t want to be a vampire,” she groused. “Whatever we are, vampiresh are not real.”

“I could be a melancholy vampire on the side of good, and you could be my brave-but-dim girlfriend.” Verity wrinkled her nose. “Fine, fine. I’m not really a fan of those stories anyway.” He snapped his fingers, and she felt the fangs melt away. “Better?”

“Well, it’s an improvement.” Verity gestured at the black robe she was suddenly wearing and the tall black hat tilting precariously on her head. “But I don’t want to dress up as a witch, either.”

“But there are real witches!” he protested. “Even if they don’t usually dress like that. Haven’t you ever heard of pagans? Or Wiccans? I even knew someone who went by the codename Wiccan,” he mused. “Though he wasn’t actually one.”

“Yours is definitely not real,” she pointed out. “Even I know who you’re supposed to be.”

Loki patted at the lightning-shaped scar on his forehead and adjusted his round black glasses. “You know Harry Potter?” She just gave him a baleful look. “Ah. Well then.” He snapped his fingers, and to Verity’s relief, they were back in their regular clothes. “How about real people? I could be that boy band singer that people tell me I look like. Who would be fun for you to be? Katy Perry? Taylor Swift?” Verity decided not to dignify that with a reply.

"Are you... Loki?"

Startled, Verity and Loki turned around to find a girl standing behind them. Verity guessed she was just shy of high school age – twelve, or maybe thirteen. "Yesss?" Loki said, drawing it out uncertainly.

To their surprise, the girl's face lit up. "Are you – are you the _real_ Loki?" she asked, leaning forward conspiratorially. 

Loki nodded warily. "The one and only God of Mischief, at your service."

"I knew it!" she crowed. "I knew it! I could tell. Omigod. I mean. You are a god! Omigod. Sorry. Sorry."

Verity exchanged a sidelong look with Loki. "If you know I'm the real Loki," he said slowly, "shouldn't you be afraid? I _am_ a supervillain, after all."

The girl snorted. "Please. I've seen all the movies with you in them. You were pretty bad in Avengers, but in the Thor movies you're just misunderstood." Loki blinked. Verity's eyes widened, her eyebrows straining toward her hairline. "And I love your comic books, too – my brother gets them, but I swipe them and read them all." She sighed in a way that Verity recognized as common to every teenage girl in existence, and she fought off a fit of giggles. Out of all the Halloween trick-or-treaters, they’d found one who had a massive crush on _Loki._  

But what was she talking about? Verity knew she was out of the loop as far as movies and comic books went, but she was pretty sure she'd have known if they existed about her best friend – if only because Loki would have complained about them ad nauseum.

Loki was suddenly looking alarmed. “Slight problem,” he muttered to Verity. “Wrong dimension.”

Unfortunately, the girl apparently had excellent hearing. “Wrong dimension?” she asked, excited. “Like in Secret Wars? Omigod. Omigod! You’re Verity!” She was practically bouncing up and down. “I can’t believe it! I love you so much. You’re the best.”

Verity was dumbfounded. It was one thing for this girl to recognize Loki, but… “How do you–”

The girl had turned back to Loki. “I wanted to dress up like you for Halloween, but I couldn’t find a girl costume. Which is just ridiculous, since you are totally a girl sometimes.” Loki made a small choked noise. “So my brother got to dress up as you. But mine is almost as good,” she said.

She took a step backwards and flourished her red cape. Verity had assumed she was Little Red Riding Hood, or something – she hadn’t really looked, since she wasn’t really a fan of playing dress-up. To her surprise, the girl was dressed in an outfit that looked suspiciously familiar. “Are you – Thor?”

“Girl Thor!” she said happily. “I mean, I know it’s supposed to be just ‘Thor,’ but it’s way more awesome that she is a _girl._ And totally kickass.” She grinned. “But Verity’s pretty kickass too. I’d definitely have dressed up as you, if anybody would know who I was.”

Words had totally deserted Verity, leaving her agape. She couldn’t really argue with the first part; it _was_ pretty awesome that there was a kickass girl Thor. But she had no idea what to make of this girl, or this dimension, in which anyone wanted to pretend to be _her._

Loki, on the other hand, was suddenly smiling and looking downright pleased. He stepped forward toward the girl, and took her hand, the one that wasn’t holding her bag of candy. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” he said, and she looked like she might pass out. “Anyone who is a fan of Verity’s, is a friend of mine.”

“Oh,” the girl said faintly.

He glanced over at Verity, who caught his meaning. “It’s nice to meet you,” Verity chimed in. “Always glad to make a new friend.”

“…friend,” the girl echoed, looking at Verity with wide eyes. 

“Are you out here by yourself?” Loki asked.

“No, my brother is –“ she looked around distractedly – “I think he’s around the corner?”

“Brothers are important,” Loki told her earnestly. She nodded. Verity tried not to giggle. “Why don’t you go and get him?”

“Really?”

“Really,” he said, smiling at her.

“Okay,” she said eagerly. “I’ll – I’ll be right back.” Loki let go of her hand and made a little shooing gesture toward the corner she’d looked at, and she nodded and took off running. _“Where ARE you?!”_ they heard her shout. _“You have to come here right NOW!”_

“We’re leaving before she gets back, aren’t we?” Verity asked.

“Definitely,” Loki said firmly. “This was supposed to be a chance to cause a little mischief, not barge into a whole different dimension.”

“Oh, I think you caused some mischief,” Verity said. “Wait til she tells her girlfriends that she met the _real_ Loki tonight.” He raised an eyebrow. “Oh _Loki,”_ she teased in a high voice. “You’re just _misunderstood._ I’ve seen all your mooovieeees. You’re so _conflicted._ And _good-looking.”_  

Loki just preened. “I’m so glad you’ve finally seen the light. It’s about time you saw me for who I really am.” Verity laughed and punched his shoulder, and Loki pretended to wince. 

“We’d better get going,” Verity said, as the girl’s voice started getting nearer again. 

“Wait half a second,” Loki said, putting his hand out. Verity tapped her foot anxiously, but Loki just waited until the girl and her brother – sure enough, dressed head to toe in green and black, a gold horned helm on his head – appeared at the corner. Loki waved, and Verity laughed as the boy’s mouth dropped open. The kids took off running toward them. _“Now_ we go,” Loki said. “After all, if she was the only one who saw us, then no one would believe her.”

“Mischief?”

“Mischief,” Loki agreed, nodding. He clapped his hands together, and the neighborhood around them began to dissolve into green light. “Besides, just think of the _stories_ they’re going to tell about us!” 

 

**Author's Note:**

> “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” – Kurt Vonnegut
> 
> (I know I'm a day late for Halloween, but sometimes a story idea just won't let go! I blame Loki. :) )


End file.
